PALO ALTO — 

At the moment when tech mammoths Amazon, Apple and Netflix are reinventing Hollywood, the U.S. premiere at Stanford University of “Hell’s Fury, the Hollywood Songbook” Saturday night might seem a bit rich. Hanns Eisler’s songs, written during Hollywood’s supposed golden age, most with texts by Bertolt Brecht, do an excellent job of encapsulating the vision of a newly capitalized silicon-age Hollywood.

Eisler was unlike other notable émigré composers who, having seen their dreams destroyed by the Nazi nightmare, played a crucial role in turning Hollywood into the kind of dream machine it became. Without their atmospheric, embracing, romantic film scores, the early sound movies never would have had the dramatic effect they did, and still do. It was almost as if this is what the likes of Erich Korngold and Franz Waxman and, later, Miklós Rózsa, were always meant to be.

Out of step with the great progressive musical march of Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Bartók, these populist émigrés looked back to the 19th century. Eisler, on the other hand, was a student of Schoenberg in Berlin, and his populism was political. He shared his close friend Brecht’s Marxist sensibility. All art for them had a social responsibility to reach the masses.

The “Hollywood Songbook” was essentially a folder containing songs that Eisler wrote between 1942, when he arrived in L.A., and 1948, when he was deported to East Germany, accused of being a Communist agent by the House Un-American Activities Committee. A good many of the texts were by Brecht. They represent Eisler’s moods as well as his and Brecht’s deeply conflicted attitude about living in Santa Monica, which they felt was both paradise and prison.

Billed as a kind of opera, the production had a program cover that depicted the Hollywood sign but with letters spelling “Hell’s Fury.” British opera director Tim Albery used a number of the songs to chronicle Eisler’s career from its start in Berlin to his exile in Denmark, New York and L.A., and finally to his return to East Berlin after the war, where Brecht joined him. The premiere was last summer at the Luminato Festival in Toronto.

The setting is a recording studio, with baritone Russell Braun and pianist Serouj Kradjian dressed alike in 1940s three-piece suits, both portraying Eisler. Through projections, the studio (first in Nazi Germany) becomes many locales. There is an owl for Denmark. Palm trees turn it into Santa Monica. The Los Angeles Times front page of May 8, 1945, proclaims “VICTORY.” By the end, the studio is littered with wine bottles, cigarette butts, an espresso pot. That is the kind of life Eisler led.

If “Hell’s Fury” is an opera, it is a documentary opera. Braun proves a convincing Eisler, who narrates the composer’s life in first person. The songs are chosen to give poetic context but mainly express mood and emotion. Kradjian is more alter ego, the pianist appearing to write the songs as they were being performed.

And, yes, there is hell and there is fury. Eisler carries a radio to chart, through the news, his worst fears in “To a Portable Radio,” a song so tuneful it long stays with you. Withering irony is bread and butter to Brecht, who claimed that Eisler was his best reader, the composer who best caught his essence. In “The Son,” a teenager is told he hardly needs to study English when rubbing one’s belly will be readily understood.

L.A. was a place of angst for Eisler, and the recording studio turns into a bar. He scored eight Hollywood films, mainly for the money, but also because he developed theories about how music and film might work together to create a new art form. Eisler’s scores for Fritz Lang’s “Hangmen Also Die!” and “None but the Lonely Heart” received Oscar nominations. He spent much time with the likes of Schoenberg (whom he continued to lionize) and Charlie Chaplin (whom Brecht lionized) and arguing with émigré writers Theodor Adorno and Thomas Mann.

Although his songs and film scores had their charming populist elements, Eisler didn’t give up his more modernist 12-tone tendencies, and the bleeding of two extremes could lead to powerful forms of expressionism. But the extremes also tore him apart emotionally, and he didn’t need Brecht’s anti-capitalist bitterness to come up with his own. “The only thing which consoles us for our miseries,” Eisler wrote in an English language lyric for one of his bleak songs, “is diversion, and yet this is the greats of our miseries … diversions amuse us and lead us unconsciously to death.” You can only imagine the bad-mood songs Eisler would have written about the bottomless moneybags behind streaming.

He left America outraged, noting that his incontrovertible HUAC witch hunt represented “fascism in its most direct form.” Back in East Germany, Eisler fit in at first. He wrote the country’s snappy national anthem and was put on a postage stamp. But he found only repression there as well, especially in the restrictions on musical style and expression.

Over a tight 70 minutes, “Hell’s Fury” gives a useful summary of Eisler’s situation. Braun’s is a consistently powerful performance. Outbursts are frequent, though most touching are the quieter, more desperate moments. Kradjian is an intimate pianist. Surtitles were imaginatively projected for the songs in German but not for those sung in Albery’s English translations, and too much of Brecht’s poetry was lost.

The audience in the Bing Concert Hall for this admirable presentation by Stanford Live was small Saturday (following a Friday night performance) and clearly attracted little of the Silicon Valley and student crowd that overflowed Palo Alto restaurants on a weekend night. But “Hell’s Fury” knows no bounds. Sending it south would make sense. A soundstage at a Culver City studio might be a suitable venue, don’t you think?

I never thought I’d be putting Robert De Niro and Gollum in the same sentence, but that’s where we find ourselves at a moment when “The Irishman” could become the first movie since “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” to win the Oscars for best picture and visual effects.

Here’s a look at how the Oscar races for all those precious crafts categories are shaping up.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Barbara Ling, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”
Bob Shaw, “The Irishman”

Dennis Gassner, “1917″
Jess Gonchor, “Little Women”
Lee Ha Jun, “Parasite”

On the cusp: Mark Friedberg, “Joker”; Ra Vincent, “Jojo Rabbit”; Donal Woods, “Downton Abbey”; François Audouy, “Ford v. Ferrari”; Craig Lathrop, “The Lighthouse”; Clay A. Griffith, “Dolemite Is My Name”

The meticulously designed modern home in “Parasite” is the movie set of the year, a crucial element in the film’s story of class warfare. A nomination here would signal the movie’s overall strength with Oscar voters, deepening speculation that Bong Joon Ho’s masterpiece has a shot at winning best picture.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Roger Deakins, “1917″
Rodrigo Prieto, “The Irishman”
Robert Richardson, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”
Lawrence Sher, “Joker”
Jarin Blaschke, “The Lighthouse”

On the cusp: Hoyte van Hoytema, “Ad Astra”; Phedon Papamichael, “Ford v Ferrari”; Hong Kyung Pyo, “Parasite”; Robbie Ryan, “Marriage Story”; Jörg Widmer, “A Hidden Life”; Yorick Le Saux, “Little Women”

Since I wrote about this category last month, the war drama “1917″ has screened and we can pretty much put this category to rest. Between crafting the film to appear as if it’s one, unbroken take and creating an array of truly astounding images, Deakins delivers on an epic level. The 14-time Oscar nominee finally won his first Oscar two years ago for “Blade Runner 2049.” He’ll need to make room for another trophy.

COSTUME DESIGN

Ruth E. Carter, “Dolemite Is My Name”
Jacqueline Durran, “Little Women”

Arianne Phillips, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”
Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson, “The Irishman”
Julian Day, “Rocketman”

On the cusp: Jacqueline Durran and David Crossman, “1917″; Jany Temime, “Judy”; Paul Tazewell, “Harriet”; Mark Bridges, “Joker”; Anna Robbins, “Downton Abbey”; Mayes C. Rubeo, “Jojo Rabbit”

“Downton Abbey’s” Robbins, like production designer Woods, earned Emmy recognition for the show and could well find favor with film academy members too. But I suspect the sight of Taron Egerton wearing an orange devil suit, complete with sequins and feathered wings, in “Rocketman” will remain firmly lodged in Oscar voters’ minds.

FILM EDITING

Thelma Schoonmaker, “The Irishman”
Fred Raskin, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”
Lee Smith, “1917″
Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker, “Ford v Ferrari”
Nick Houy, “Little Women”

On the cusp: Jinmo Yang, “Parasite”; Jennifer Lame, “Marriage Story”; Jeff Groth, “Joker”; Tom Eagles, “Jojo Rabbit”

It’s hard to take voters in this branch seriously after they nominated “Bohemian Rhapsody” last year, a movie that contained scenes that were so horribly assembled that its own editor disavowed one of them. “Whenever I see it, I want to put a bag over my head,” John Ottman told the Washington Post. And he won the Oscar! Thankfully, Schoonmaker will likely prevail this year, cleansing the acrid memory still lingering.

SOUND EDITING

“Ford v Ferrari”
“1917″
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“Rocketman”
“Ad Astra”

On the cusp: “Avengers: Endgame,” “The Irishman,” “Joker,” “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” “Parasite,” “The Lighthouse”

In some perfect alternate universe, “The Lighthouse” sweeps through all these categories and, upon hearing the news, Willem Dafoe’s eyes brighten like he’s up there with the lamp, bathing in its ecstatic glow. (Reminder: Dafoe should be nominated too!)

SOUND MIXING

“1917″
“Ford v Ferrari”
“Rocketman”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”

On the cusp: “Avengers: Endgame,” “Ad Astra,” “The Irishman,” “Cats,” “Joker,” “Judy,” “Parasite”

The two sound categories don’t always overlap, with music-heavy movies sometimes figuring more prominently in the mixing category. (The editor collects the film’s sounds, including dialogue and effects; the mixer determines how the audience hears those sounds.) That’s why I’m putting “Cats” here, though, as of this writing, it still hasn’t screened. But if it sounds half as good as the mash-up of the “Cats” trailer and Jordan Peele’s “Us” soundtrack, then, by all means, nominate it.

MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

“Bombshell”
“Joker”
“Judy”

On the cusp: “Rocketman,” “The Irishman,” “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” “1917,” “Dolemite Is My Name”

The last two winners — “Vice” and “Darkest Hour” — have gone to films that transformed actors into famous figures. In other words, don’t bet against “Bombshell.”

VISUAL EFFECTS

“The Irishman”
“The Lion King”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“Avengers: Endgame”
“Gemini Man”

On the cusp: “The Aeronauts,” “Alita: Battle Angel,” “Cats,” “Ad Astra,” “Spider-Man: Far From Home”

Martin Scorsese vs. Marvel. It’s just a battle for the future of cinema, that’s all.

There’s an action sequence in director James Gray’s sci-fi thriller “Ad Astra” that’s packed with thrills but also rife with nuance. Brad Pitt is Roy McBride, an astronaut who finds himself saving mankind from a threat deep in outer space. U.S. intelligence has asked him to send a message from Mars to a long-forgotten mission captained by his father (Tommy Lee Jones). To get to the Red Planet he must first travel to the moon, and while on it, he’s chased down by rover-driving vigilante pirates.

Here, the filmmakers reveal how the death-defying pursuit came together, along with script excerpts by James Gray and Ethan Gross.

EXT. LUNAR BASE
The lunar roving vehicle (LRV) departs, bursting forward with ferocity.

Production traveled to the Dumont Dunes of the Mojave Desert for six days to shoot with stunt doubles driving rovers that would be blended with close-ups of Pitt and the other actors shot in studio. “James wanted this movie to be informed by science where every detail had a purpose,” says production designer Kevin Thompson. “For the moon, we wanted it to feel conquered by contractors, the private industry and national projects. To have a real mix of things that feels slightly familiar.”

In the desert, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema used a 3-D rig to mount two cameras; one capturing 35-millimeter film, the other digital, recording infrared. Instead of configuring the cameras side-by-side they were overlaid so each camera captured an identical image. “With Hoyte shooting infrared it turned the desert blue skies dark and the sandy terrain a grayish white,” says visual effects supervisor Allen Maris. “It gave us something great to start with. Then we extracted the color information from the film camera to composite the infrared footage to create the high-contrast look of the moon.” Visual effects then removed the sand dunes and hills in the image and replaced them with the correct geography and texture found on the lunar rock.

EXT. THE MOON – MOMENTS LATER
A caravan of rovers appear on the horizon, coming toward our GUYS.
They open fire on our LRV.

Boom! The first shot just misses Roy, and the team led by Willie Levant (Sean Blakemore) calls in a mayday that they’re under attack. More shots are fired and two of the rovers go down. Another shot punctures Roy’s oxygen supply. He must close it before he dies. The Max Richter score magnifies the intensity.

“We made sure we stayed within Roy’s point-of-view as much as we could as it all unfolds,” says co-editor Lee Haugen, who worked alongside co-editor John Axelrad. “Whether it was visuals or sound, we felt the action was built better around his perspective.”

Supervising sound editor Gary Rydstrom says, “One of the keys to it all is that you’re hearing things from what Roy would hear and what would resonate in his suit or through his microphone.” In creating the sound palette, Rydstrom aurally detailed feedback and distortion. “It’s somewhat embarrassing to admit as a sound designer because there’s nothing easier to create than feedback and distortion, but the scene is almost completely made up of all the sounds I tried to avoid in my career,” he says.

The driver can’t react in time. SLAMS INTO THE BARRICADE.

A pirate rover drives straight toward Roy’s vehicle. Roy pumps the brakes and the pirate rover zips by, slamming into a concrete structure. It flips into the air, shredding into pieces. To replicate the atmosphere, filmmakers referenced the Al Reinert documentary “For All Mankind,” which follows the true story of the moon landing.

“The moon is about one-sixth the gravity of Earth, and we took that into consideration,” Maris says. “We wanted to re-create the real thing so the rovers are moving the way they should on the moon’s surface.” Van Hoytema detailed the look further by shooting the entire sequence with a slightly higher frame rate to subtly add slow motion to the accelerating vehicles and impacts.

The picture editors intercut shots of Roy’s visor that reflected the destruction. “It was storyboarded that way and added to the perspective. Even the voices that were not Roy’s were filtered so that only his was left clean,” Haugen notes.

It took several months to finish cutting the sequence, and the editors admit it felt claustrophobic when they first put it together. It wasn’t until the addition of sound, music and overhead angles, which added to the geography and tension, that they started feeling the shape of the scene.

“The whole movie was challenging and a test in how to get internally into a character,” Axelrad says. “The further Roy goes out into space, the deeper we dive into the conscious mind. But even with the action sequences, we wanted to find a balance between making it entertaining and finding the emotion.”

Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. stock surged to a two-month high Monday after reaching a $13.5-billion settlement with the victims of wildfires ignited by its power lines — a major step toward resolving the biggest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history.

The agreement, announced late Friday, will cover claims stemming from some of the worst blazes to ever hit Northern California, including the 2017 wine country and 2018 Camp fires. The utility’s stock leaped 15.9% to $11.18 a share.

The settlement costs more than PG&E initially anticipated, so the utility took a pretax charge of $4.9 billion for the current quarter, according to a Monday filing.

But it’s still a major victory for PG&E, which has spent months trying to negotiate a viable restructuring plan to emerge from bankruptcy by the middle of next year. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened a state takeover if the utility fails to come up with a plan soon, and the judge overseeing the company’s reorganization had ordered parties into mediation.

The agreement “offers the clearest path forward in PG&E’s ongoing bankruptcy fight,” Clayton Allen, an analyst at Height Capital Markets, said in a note Monday. The judge overseeing the bankruptcy case probably will support the company’s settlements with victims and their insurers “as they seem to offer the most expedient option,” he said.

Half of the payout announced Friday will be financed through stock and the other half through cash — with $5.4 billion paid upfront and the rest over time, according to Monday’s filing. The deal still needs approval from Newsom and the bankruptcy court.

Newsom’s office is reviewing the agreement, a spokesman said. According to PG&E’s Monday filing, the pact may be terminated if Newsom says by Friday that it fails to comply with state requirements. PG&E would have until Dec. 17 to make changes if Newsom rejects the settlement.

Compensating victims of wildfires had emerged as the largest challenge to restructuring PG&E, which declared bankruptcy in January after its equipment was blamed for starting catastrophic blazes in 2017 and 2018. The fires buried the utility giant in an estimated $30 billion worth of liabilities.

PG&E initially offered victims $8.4 billion, a fraction of what they said they were owed. A group of creditors led by Pacific Investment Management Co., also known as Pimco, and by Elliott Management Corp. stepped in to offer $13.5 billion to victims as part of a rival reorganization plan that would’ve handed them ownership of almost all of the power company.

The agreement reached Friday could deal a fatal blow to that proposal. As part of the deal announced Friday, victims would agree to oppose the efforts of Pimco and Elliott.

The utility has already agreed to pay $11 billion to insurers and investors, although that pact has been contested by the governor’s office, saying it locks claim holders into a restructuring plan that may not win approval. The company also has a deal to pay $1 billion to local government agencies.

PG&E amended its restructuring support agreement to include an added pretax charge for victim claims of $4.9 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, according to Monday’s filing. And it extended the deadline for obtaining bankruptcy court approval for the agreement with insurers to Wednesday from Friday.

PG&E said Monday that it will update and file its reorganization plan that resolves all major wildfire claims by Thursday. The company said it is on track to gain the needed regulatory and court approvals to exit bankruptcy by a state-imposed deadline of June 30, 2020.

The utility said it had received more than $12 billion in equity backstop commitments to support the settlement and its plan of reorganization.

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The settlement with fire victims comes after PG&E drew outrage from state lawmakers and residents for carrying out deliberate mass blackouts to keep its power lines from igniting more wildfires during wind storms. In October, it plunged millions of Californians into darkness four times. The backlash increased pressure on Newsom to restructure PG&E.

If approved, the settlement means PG&E will avert a trial scheduled to begin next month in federal court in San Francisco to determine its liability from fire-related losses and estimate damages. Parties would also agree to put on hold some trials involving the 2017 Tubbs fire, which hit Northern California’s wine country.

SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund is selling back its nearly 50% stake in Wag Labs Inc. as the Los Angeles dog-walking start-up cuts staff.

Wag will regain control of SoftBank’s two board seats as part of the agreement, according to a memo Wag sent to staff Monday. The company didn’t disclose terms of the deal or the number of jobs set to be eliminated.

A spokeswoman for the Vision Fund confirmed the stock sale but declined to comment further. A spokesman for Wag declined to comment. The news was earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The Vision Fund had invested $300 million in the business early last year before a reckoning came for Uber Technologies Inc., WeWork and other unprofitable companies backed by SoftBank. Wag’s chief executive left last month and was replaced by the company’s 29-year-old vice president of product and partnerships, Garrett Smallwood.

Even after a cash infusion and aggressive spending, Wag struggled to compete with Rover.com. Wag’s position worsened once it cut back on promotions for new customers. Wag had been seeking to sell itself as recently as October, in a deal that was expected to value the business at less than the amount SoftBank paid for its stake, people familiar with the situation said recently. Wag had about $100 million in cash earlier this year, one of the people said.

This week’s moves will help Wag “refocus on delivering sustainable growth,” Smallwood wrote in his memo. The company isn’t looking to buy back shares from other investors, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. Earlier venture investors include General Catalyst, Sherpa Capital and Slow Ventures.

Stocks on Wall Street closed modestly lower Monday as losses in technology, healthcare and financial companies outweighed gains elsewhere in the market.

The selling snapped a three-day winning streak for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and wiped out the benchmark index’s 0.2% gain from last week.

Trading was mostly muted as investors looked ahead to a busy week of economic reports and an interest rate policy update from the Federal Reserve.

The market also remained focused on developments in the U.S.-China trade negotiations.

Both countries have been working toward a limited “Phase 1” deal that investors hope can at least avert new U.S. tariffs on $160 billion of Chinese goods from kicking in Sunday. The tariffs would raise prices on key products, including cellphones and laptops, and threaten to affect consumers.

“With the deadline being Sunday, most people don’t think that new tariffs will be put in place, but they also don’t expect a Phase 1 [deal] to be signed this week,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.

The S&P 500 slipped 9.95 points, or 0.3%, to 3,135.96. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 105.46 points, or 0.4%, to 27,909.60. The Nasdaq fell 34.70 points, or 0.4%, to 8,621.83. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks retreated 4.22 points, or 0.3%, to 1,629.62.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.82% from 1.84%.

A Chinese official said Monday that the nation wants a prompt settlement of the trade war but gave no details on progress toward a potential deal. China made a conciliatory gesture last week when it said it would waive tariffs on American soybeans and pork.

Technology-sector stocks, which have been particularly sensitive to developments on trade because many of the companies rely on China for sales and supply chains, helped drag down the stock market Monday. Apple fell 1.4%, and chipmaker Micron Technology slid 3.1%.

Industrial stocks also fell. United Airlines declined 1.1%. General Electric fell 1%.

Abiomed led the slide in healthcare stocks, falling 4%. Banks fell as bond yields declined, with Goldman Sachs shares dropping 1.2%.

Several retailers helped lift the consumer discretionary stocks sector. Home Depot gained 1.1%, and its rival Lowe’s rose 1.4%. Target advanced 1.1%.

Traders also weighed several big healthcare deals.

ArQule shares more than doubled in price on news that Merck agreed to buy the small biotechnology company for $2.7 billion. ArQule is in the early stages of studying potential treatments for conditions including leukemia. Merck inched down 0.1%.

Sanofi made a similar play, spending $2.5 billion for San Diego-based Synthorx, which is also in the earlier stages of testing cancer treatments. Sanofi fell 1.6%. Synthorx nearly tripled.

Health insurer United HealthGroup said it is buying Diplomat Pharmacy to help bolster its pharmacy benefits unit, OptimRx. The deal is being made at a steep discount, which sent Diplomat’s stock plunging 32.7%. UnitedHealth dropped 0.9%.

PG&E leaped 15.9% following late Friday’s news that the California utility has reached a tentative $13.5-billion settlement that resolves all major claims related to the deadly, devastating Northern California wildfires of 2017 and 2018. The blazes were blamed on PG&E’s outdated equipment and negligence. The deal, which still requires court approval, represents a key step in PG&E’s exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Wall Street is in for a busy week of economic reports culminating in a key update on whether Americans are still spending at a healthy pace.

Investors will get a revised report Tuesday on worker productivity for the July-through-September quarter. Data released in November showed a decline for the first time since late 2015.

On Wednesday the government will release its November report for consumer prices, which have been rising at a modest rate this year. A gauge on producer prices will be released Thursday.

The Commerce Department’s report on retail sales due for release Friday is possibly the most important update this week. The economy has been propped up in part by solid spending and job growth.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to deliver an economic and interest rate policy update Wednesday after a two-day meeting of its policymakers. The central bank is widely expected to hold off on making any changes to interest rates.

“The market does not expect a rate cut in December but is probably still holding out for one or two in 2020,” Stovall said. “We think the Fed is going to sit pat and not really do anything.”

The Fed, which had raised interest rates four times in 2018, cut the rates three times this year in a bid to buttress economic growth. The Fed has signaled that it will hold off on any additional rate cuts while the economy remains healthy.

Benchmark crude oil fell 18 cents to settle at $59.02 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 14 cents to close at $64.25 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline was little changed at $1.65 a gallon. Heating oil slipped a penny to $1.94 a gallon. Natural gas fell 10 cents to $2.23 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold fell 20 cents to $1,464.90 an ounce. Silver rose 5 cents to $16.53 an ounce. Copper rose 3 cents to $2.75 a pound.

Three women are suing a Silicon Valley start-up and its CEO on allegations of harassment and discrimination based on gender, pregnancy and age, according to a complaint filed Monday in San Francisco state court.

The women claim that the CEO of Synapse Financial Technologies Inc., Sankaet Pathak, was verbally abusive and antagonized them in meetings and in private. The CEO “undermined, intimidated, and toyed with the female employees,” the complaint says, and made “overt, graphic sexual comments in front of and to female employees and demeaned and belittled them.”

Synapse did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In September, Synapse and Pathak sued Glassdoor, a website that lets employees post anonymous reviews, saying that negative reviews made about the company were false. The employee comments, which accused Pathak of yelling profanities at employees and intimidating women, were untrue and constituted defamation, according to the complaint. Glassdoor responded that Synapse had not adequately proved the statements were false.

Synapse, a start-up that helps companies launch banking products such as debit cards and savings accounts through its platform, has raised about $50 million in funding. The company’s technology allows other fintechs to more easily work with existing banks, which can process and store consumers’ cash. Andreessen Horowitz led its most recent funding round, for $33 million in June, with participation from investors including Core Innovation Capital and Trinity Ventures.

If substantiated, the women’s claims against the company would fit into a wider trend of harassment toward women at high-flying Silicon Valley companies, though the allegations in the suit are uncommonly severe. They include obstructing an employee’s path to the exits during a contentious meeting and a pattern of demeaning comments. One plaintiff had a miscarriage, the complaint said, after the CEO’s “harassment continued” and her “anxiety increased.”

The suit was brought by Asya Bradley, Taylor Sims and Mharie Fraser, all of whom left the company or were fired within the last two years. They claim Pathak “screamed and cursed at the female employees and would block the door to intimidate them from leaving conference rooms.” According to the complaint, “He did not do this to the male employees.”

The complaint also alleges that the company discriminated against one employee because she had more than one child while working at Synapse. It says Pathak told employees that Bradley “had too many babies” and that she was taking advantage of Synapse by using maternity leave.

Pathak is also accused of making inappropriate comments to one woman based on her age, saying the male employee she was having lunch with on her first day at Synapse was “into mom types.” Pathak also speculated that the company did not have many older workers “for a reason,” saying, “We need fresh perspectives to do this job right,” according to the complaint.

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How to re-create a festive winter vibe without the stress (and snow)? Simple: Transform your interiors with the scents of cypress, juniper, pine and sandalwood.

Here, we offer seven holiday candles that are all hand-poured by makers in L.A. Some are sweet, others are smoky; all are festive.

Best of all: When the candle is finished, simply reuse the glass container as a planter — we’ll explain — and offer it as an inexpensive, up-cycled hostess gift.

Do you have a favorite holiday candle of your own? Let us know at [email protected]

Cupressus (Cypress)

From: Barratt Riley & Co

Smells like: Patagonian cypress, fir needles, oakmoss and cedarwood

About the makers: Phoenix psychologist Tyler Barratt and Beverly Hills beauty guru Christian Fitzgerald Riley have teamed up to create an artisan line of coconut wax candles scented with botanical essential oils. The candles are hand-poured in Los Angeles and include a botanical series, a floral assortment and a farmers market collection. Candles may be applied as a body moisturizer, massage oil or fragrance, and come packaged in a muslin bag and box for gift-giving.

Info: $52, barrattriley.com

Spruce

From: P.F. Candle Co

Smells like: Blue spruce, cedarwood and citrus

About the makers: Kristen Pumphrey and Thomas Neuberger started P.F. Candle Co as an Etsy shop in 2008. They found success by working events like the Renegade Craft Fair and recently opened bricks-and-mortar stores in Echo Park and Culver City. “Having physical retail locations gives us the opportunity to connect with our customers like we did in our craft fair days,” Pumphrey said. “With our Culver City shop, we also have a space where we can host workshops and events, which celebrates our DIY roots and allows people to come experience scent in person.” Amber & Moss, a year-round candle featuring sage, moss and lavender, is another great forest scent for the holidays.

Info: $20, pfcandleco.com

Mistletoe reclaimed wine bottle candles

From: Stone Candles

Smells like: White mountain aurora pine and melon

About the makers: Michael and Daniel Wainer’s candle bar in Santa Monica offers natural, hand-crafted coconut wax blend candles and a variety of candle-making workshops. “We wanted Mistletoe to smell like morning mountain dew in the forest,” said Daniel. Return with the wine bottle — or any container — and you can refill it with the scented wax of your choice, $15 minimum. The father-and-son company has also partnered with Exceptional Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to creating opportunities for people with disabilities, in creating Light 4 Life Cause, a private label manufacturing facility in Inglewood.

Info: $25, stonecandles.com

Emerald Forest

From: Apothenne Los Angeles

Smells like: Blue spruce, rose, patchouli, fir and sandalwood

About the maker: Jacqueline Bradley named her independent candle company using the words apothecary and doyenne to honor powerful female makers. The Apothenne Los Angeles candle line is handcrafted with 100% non-GMO soy wax and a blend of essential oils and fragrance oils. Candles are available in three different glass jars including pink, amber and clear and a cylinder gift box.

Info: $32, apothenne.com

Holiday Hinoki Fantome

From: Boy Smells

Smells like: Resin, hinoki, cardamom, jasmine and moss

About the makers: The Pico Union brand began as an experiment in 2016 when real-life partners Matthew Herman and David Kien created a coconut and beeswax line in their kitchen. The couple went on to create a candle line that was gender fluid by incorporating masculine and feminine scents simultaneously. “This year we wanted to do something that felt sophisticated,” said Herman of the Hinoki Fantome, Cedar and Ash limited-edition candles. “Our holiday candles are smokier and moodier. We call the Hinoki our apocalyptic holiday candle. Even the wax is a smoky hue. It’s spice heavy and more about renewal than nostalgia. I’m a big believer that something amazing can be reborn from the ashes this year.” Boy Smells is hosting a pop-up through December at Poketo at Row DTLA featuring their full collection, seasonal scents, new products and free gift wrapping.

Info: $34, boysmells.com

Fir Balsam

From: Daniel Stone of Stone Candles

Smells like: Cedarleaf, patchouli, pine fir needle, cedarleaf, eucalyptus, cedarwood and vanilla musk

Info: $45, stonecandles.com

Over the Brim

From: Torch

Smells like: Juniper, pine, evergreen herbs and balsam fir

About the maker: Claunesha “Cjay” Jones created her handcrafted coconut wax candle line (T.O.R.C.H is an acronym for Thoughts of Rich Choices and Habits) with “luxury meets eco-friendly” in mind. Her candles are non-toxic and can be used as a lotion or massage oil. Torch candles are also available at the Atwater and Hollywood farmers markets.

Info: $30, torchla.com

How to turn your candle holder into an up-cycled planter

When the candle has finished burning, place the glass container upside down on a lined cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 200-degrees, so any leftover wax can melt onto the sheet. This works better than the freezer method. Allow container to cool, and clean before filling with soil and succulents. (The lack of drainage holes means very little water is needed to keep the succulents thriving.) Pilea peperomioides cuttings work well too. You now have a repurposed gift for the plant-loving millennial in your life.

COPENHAGEN — 

Finland’s next government is breaking the mold in multiple ways.

Sanna Marin, the 34-year-old transport minister, was tapped over the weekend by the ruling Social Democratic Party to be Finland’s new prime minister. When she takes the reins of the country, most likely on Tuesday, she will become the world’s youngest sitting head of government.

In another unusual development, Marin will head a coalition with four other parties that are all led by women — three of whom are in their early 30s. Her own biography also breaks the mold: Raised by a single mother, she has described feeling discriminated against in Finland when her mother was in a relationship with another woman.

Elina Penttinen, a lecturer in gender studies at the University of Helsinki, said the rise of so many women is “exceptional” not only by the standards of the wider world, where older men hold most power, but even by the standards of Finland, which regularly ranks as one of the best countries in the world for gender equality.

“Here it seems pretty amazing too,” she said.

The Social Democrats emerged as the strongest party after Finland’s election in April. Antti Rinne, the incumbent prime minister whom Marin is replacing, stepped down last week amid political turmoil caused by a strike of postal workers. Rinne says he plans to continue as the Social Democrats’ leader until a party congress next summer.

Penttinen described Marin as a talented politician known for her leadership skills whose progressive program emphasizes combating climate change, protecting the country’s famous social protections like healthcare, and reaching out to young people.

Finland, like much of the West, has seen a rise in right-wing populists, and the nationalist Finns Party did well in the April election, though centrist and left-wing parties won most votes and together could govern in the multiparty coalition.

“I hope it’s a sign of more change to come against populists, especially in the age of Trump and populism,” Penttinen said.

A tweet by a journalist for Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat with photos of the quintet drew attention online by visually underscoring the idea of rising female power in politics.

Marin will become the youngest-serving leader of a government in the world, beating out Ukraine’s 35-year-old prime minister, Oleksiy Honcharuk. She might not hold that title for long, however. Sebastian Kurz, the 33-year-old former Austrian chancellor who rose to that position when he was 31, won an election in September and is in talks to form a new governing coalition that would put him back in the job.

Marin joins a small group of female leaders who have sought to counteract the rise of populism. That group includes Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, 46, a progressive whose election this year bucked the trend of populism and nationalism in Central Europe.

And like New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who is 39, Marin is a new mother, having given birth to a daughter last year.

A lawmaker since 2015, Marin is the party’s vice chairwoman and was minister for transport and communications in the outgoing government.

Lawmakers are likely to approve the new government this week so Marin can represent Finland at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. Finland holds the EU’s rotating presidency until the end of the year.

Beside Marin, the coalition’s other party leaders are 32-year-old Katri Kulmuni of the Center Party; the Left Alliance’s Li Andersson, 32; Maria Ohisalo, the 34-year-old leader of the Greens; and the head of the Swedish People’s Party, Anna-Maja Henriksson, who at 55 is the oldest.

The coalition will have a comfortable majority of 117 seats in the 200-seat Eduskunta, or Parliament.

The Center Party announced Monday that Kulmuni will be the finance minister in the new government.

Marin will be Finland’s third female government leader. Women have been present in politics in the Nordic region for decades and today represent half of the party leaders in Sweden. Four of Denmark’s nine parties are headed by women.

Mette Frederiksen became Denmark’s prime minister in June, and Erna Solberg has been Norway’s head of government since 2013.

Iceland’s Vigdis Finnbogadottir was the first woman to be democratically elected as head of state by voters when she defeated three men for the presidency in 1980.

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BETHLEHEM, West Bank — 

For decades, the people of Bethlehem have watched tour buses drive up to the Church of the Nativity, disgorge their passengers for a few hours at the traditional birthplace of Jesus, and then return to Israel.

But in recent years a new form of tourism has taken root, focused on the West Bank town’s Palestinian residents, their culture and history and their struggles under Israeli occupation.

As pilgrims descend on Bethlehem this Christmas, they have the option of staying in restored centuries-old guesthouses, taking food tours of local markets and perusing the dystopian art in and around a hotel designed by the British graffiti artist Banksy.

The centerpiece of tourism, and the focus of Christmas celebrations in the coming weeks, is the 6th century Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Jesus is believed to have been born in a manger. Extensive renovations in recent years have saved the roof from collapse and revealed colorful wall mosaics depicting angels and saints.

This month, the Vatican returned a small part of what Christians believe to be the original manger, which was sent to Rome as a gift to the pope in the 7th century. The thumb-sized relic, displayed in an ornate silver case, can be seen in a chapel adjoining the church.

In Manger Square, just outside the church, a massive Christmas tree has been set up and festivities are planned in the coming weeks as various denominations hold staggered Christmas celebrations. On Jan. 7, Bethlehem will host an international Santa convention.

Tourism has suffered in the past during outbreaks of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. But the Palestinian Tourism Ministry expects 3.5 million visitors to Bethlehem in 2019, up from 3 million the previous year, and many think there is still room for growth.

“The general situation in Palestine and the Holy Land is that there is very good security, better than most countries in the world, and so the people are visiting,” said Elias Arja, chairman of the local hotel association.

He noted that while the Holy Land is home to the most important sites in Christianity, including the places where tradition says Christ was born, where he grew up, was crucified and resurrected, it attracts far fewer visitors than the Vatican. “We have the opportunity to draw more people,” he said.

Religious tourism is a boon for the local economy, but many Palestinians feel the city’s modern residents are largely ignored.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Middle East War. The Palestinians view the territories as part of their national homeland and hope to one day establish an independent state.

Visitors traveling to Bethlehem pass through a sprawling Israeli checkpoint and then drive along the separation wall, which Israel began building during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in the early 2000s. Israel says the barrier is needed to prevent attacks, but the Palestinians view it as a land grab because its route places almost 10% of the West Bank on the Israeli side. Bethlehem is almost completely surrounded by the barrier and a string of Jewish settlements.

The town’s predicament is on vivid display in and around the Walled Off Hotel, which was designed by Banksy and opened in 2017. The hotel looks out on the separation wall, which is covered with artwork, graffiti and museum panels explaining life under occupation. Inside, a number of Banksy pieces are depicted in a haunting lobby, which this time of year is dimly lighted with Christmas lights.

The hotel offers weekly performances by local musicians and daily tours of a nearby Palestinian refugee camp. Tours of Banksy’s public artwork elsewhere in the town can be organized on request.

A different form of alternative tourism, conceived by Palestinians, can be found in the city center, just a few hundred yards from the church. There the municipality, with Italian aid, has restored an 18th century guesthouse and rented it out to Fadi Kattan, a French Palestinian chef.

The Hosh Al-Syrian Guesthouse includes 12 tastefully furnished rooms ranging from $80 to $150 a night. At its Fawda Restaurant — Arabic for chaos — Kattan uses local ingredients to cook up traditional Palestinian cuisine with a modern twist.

“My vision was to say religious tourism will promote itself by itself, it doesn’t need the private sector to promote it,” he said. “Let’s promote everything else. Let’s promote our food, let’s promote our culture, let’s promote our history.”

Kattan is especially keen to promote Palestinian cuisine, which he says has been appropriated by Israeli chefs and food writers. As with nearly everything else having to do with the Middle East conflict, there are two sides: Israeli cuisine owes much to Jewish immigrants from ancient communities across the Middle East and North Africa.

The guesthouse partners with a local group known as Farayek to offer food tours in which visitors wander through the local market, meeting farmers, butchers and bakers before having lunch at the guesthouse. Another program includes cooking classes taught by a Palestinian grandmother.

“What I was hoping to achieve is to have people stay three nights in Bethlehem, to have people go to the fruit and vegetable market, to have people meet the people of Bethlehem, not just the very short tour into the city,” he said.

When the guesthouse opened in 2014, the average stay was one night, but now it has risen to three and a half, with steady occupancy throughout the low season, Kattan said.

A handful of other restored guesthouses also have opened in recent years, including Dar al-Majus, Arabic for House of the Magi, named for the three kings said to have visited the manger after Christ was born.

The guesthouse is part of a wider initiative by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and a local association to support the Christian community. Bethlehem’s Christian community, like others across the Middle East, has dramatically dwindled in recent decades as Christians have fled war and conflict or sought better economic opportunities abroad.

A local family living next to the guesthouse cooks breakfast and traditional meals for guests, and the guesthouse employs members of two more families. The guesthouse mostly supplies itself from the local market, and there are plans to expand to another restored house in the old quarter next year.

Bethlehem’s mayor, Anton Salman, expects the recent growth in tourism to continue.

“Each season is more active and more organized and more attractive for the local community in Palestine and for the tourists,” he said.

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